Information and communications technology can help Calgary businesses increase efficiencies, become more profitable and reduce operating costs and give them a much needed competitive advantage.

CTECH has recently partnered with the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), a move that will allow Calgary businesses to receive up to $50,000 towards the purchase of new IT systems.

“We have seen over the years that when businesses invest in the latest technologies, there is an immediate increase in sales, and believe it or not, costs are decreased,” said CTECH President, Carl Fransen. “Many CTECH clients use technology to stimulate growth and win more opportunities than their competitors.”

CTECH’s partnership with the BDC provides technology financing for:

• Hardware (servers, workstations, telephony, computers, and other accessories)
• Software (ERP, CRM, Human Resources, Supply Chain, Finance and Accounting)
• Consulting Services (IT planning, strategy, security, online services, Internet marketing and social media)

When financing with BDC, clients of CTECH receive:

• 6% interest rate
• 4 year repayment period
• No application fees
• Fast and easy loan process. Approvals within 2 days
• Sound financing alternative to preserve short-term working capital

To learn more about how CTECH can help you with all of your IT financing requirements, call 403.457.1478 or email financing@ctechgroup.net.

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About CTECH: Since 2000 when CTECH has been providing quality, reliable Calgary IT support and services to its clients. Driven by the founder’s desire to make a difference in business, the company’s approach has always been to provide solutions to their clients today, while positioning those same clients for growth in the future.

If you would like to know anything about us or have any questions, you can call us at (877) 455-1478 or email us.

You use computers in one form or another every day. The GPS systems in your car, your smart phone, even your television can be used to access the Internet and download movies or video games. Every time you access the Internet, you put yourself and your computer at risk. Taking the time to install security software and back it up by using the firewall that comes pre-installed on your computer, can protect you somewhat from hackers. You have to be even more cautious with your company data. Yet, according to the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA), many small-business owners aren’t protecting themselves or their customers as much as they could.

Here are some statistics courtesy of NCSA:

• 65% of small businesses store customer data on their computers
• 43% store financial records
• 33% store credit card information
• 20% have intellectual property and other sensitive corporate content online
• Only 43% are confident that their businesses are protected against data thieves.

Installing security software and firewalls isn’t enough. You also have to educate your employees. According to NCSA, more than 75% of small businesses don’t have formal written Internet security policies for their employees. And more than half lack Internet usage policies that clarify what websites and Web services employees can use. It’s not always easy to know which websites are harmful and which ones are safe. Teaching employees how to recognize the warning signs of potentially harmful websites or phishing emails could increase the odds against someone inadvertently introducing malware into your business. Sadly, human error isn’t the only thing small-business owners have to worry about.

The National Cyber Security Alliance reported that 63% of small businesses don’t have social media use policies for employees. This is important because people who will over share their own personal information will probably also over share sensitive company information. Ignorance is not always bliss. But more disturbing than neglecting to have social media policies is neglecting to do criminal background checks on all employees, but particularly on those employees who handle your company’s finances. While this may work out more often than not, why tempt fate? Just as putting people in charge of company finances without checking their backgrounds jeopardizes your company’s finances, so does allowing employees to use USB devices jeopardize your company’s data. Despite that, more than two-thirds of small-business owners do allow their employees to use USB devices at work.

Everyone who chooses to access the Internet is vulnerable to attack. Because businesses have their customers’ personal information on their computers as well as their companies’ important data, it’s doubly important for them to take every possible precaution to protect themselves from both internal and external skullduggery.

Looking for a company that takes care of your professional, personal and family needs?

Then CTECH is the firm to help you grow your career.

IT Service Professional

We are currently seeking a highly skilled field engineer with the drive and determination to help us support our client base. This position reports to our Service Manager. We are looking for an individual who is a problem-solver and has a proven track record of working within a team environment to successfully address challenging user computing issues, and is accustomed to leveraging technical training opportunities to improve their skills. If you have the experience and the desire, we’d like to talk to you.

Our field engineers are responsible for maintaining user uptime and improving their computing experiences through effective onsite maintenance and problem identification and resolution activities, as well as growing and developing the organization’s perception with existing

customers through exceptional customer service. Candidates must be energetic and focused with a strong motivation to learn new technologies and management and maintenance processes. This position requires dedication, pe rsistence, follow-up, effective utilization of provided resources and unbeatable customer service.

This position will include identifying user problems and working within a structured problem management and resolution process to remediate them within established SLAs, and involves working with other resources and vendors to deliver effective field support services.

Responsibilities include identifying, documenting and troubleshooting user computing issues to resolution and maintaining customer satisfaction.

Job duties include utilizing our professional services automation (PSA) solution along with other service-specific tools and technologies to deliver onsite user support services and update service request information and collaborate and work with other staff and vendor support resources to resolve issues. Overall relationship management and the ability to coordinate required resources to respond to complex IT requirements are desired. Other requirements include participating in ongoing training and attainment of manufacturer certifications and developing and maintaining relationships with user and vendor contacts.

Minimum Skills Required:

• Minimum three years experience
• Microsoft Certified Professional status
• Excellent knowledge of our supported software and technologies
• Strong interpersonal skills required to effectively communicate with users and vendors
• Passion for teamwork, continuing education, problem solving and exceptional customer service
• Must be well spoken, outgoing, organized, detailed-orientated, dependable and flexible
• Experience with DELL, Microsoft Virtualization, Cisco and Citrix technologies a plus
• Valid driver’s license and proof of insurance
• Background check and drug screen required
• Reliable transportation

This Position Entails:

• Troubleshooting user problems onsite
• Accurate documentation of all activities conducted
• The ability to manage, maintain, troubleshoot and support our users’ networks, equipment, software and services
• The ability to learn quickly and adapt to changing requirements

The Successful Candidate must be:

• Professional and articulate
• Interpersonally adept
• Technically proficient
• A relationship builder
• A problem solver

Benefits include group medical/dental insurance, paid vacation, holidays, personal & sick time and training reimbursement. Our generous compensation plans are structured as salary plus bonuses for meeting utilization, compliance and customer service requirements, with initial compensation commensurate with relevant experience.

Qualified candidates please submit a current resume, along with salary history to:  carlfransen@ctechgroup.ca

Calgary, Alberta Feb. 7. 2012 “Cloud Means Business” is a seminar that will help Calgary business owners to understand the cloud, its benefits and how to use it to enhance their companies’ day-to-day operations.

The seminar will take place on Mar. 1, 2012, at the Alastair Ross Technology Centre in NW Calgary; Mar. 8 at the CTECH boardroom downtown; Mar. 14 at the Glenmore Inn in SE Calgary; and Mar. 21 at the CTECH boardroom once again. It will be hosted by the Cloud Summit Alliance, which is a collaboration among Calgary-based CTECH Consulting Group, Assistus Corporation and Aqurus Solutions, Inc.

After a brief introduction, CTECH president Carl Fransen will get things started by discussing network and hardware infrastructure and explain how technology and devices can be safely moved to the cloud.

“Security is important to business owners. They need to know that we can move their companies’ data to the cloud securely and that their companies’ data can be managed there securely as well,” said Fransen.

All presentations by the Cloud Summit Alliance will be in plain English so everyone can easily understand the discussions. Attendance to this event is free. Anyone who’s interested can register here.

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About CTECH: Since 2000 when CTECH has been providing quality, reliable IT support and services to its clients. Driven by the founder’s desire to make a difference in business, the company’s approach has always been to provide solutions to their clients today, while positioning those same clients for growth in the future.

If you would like to know anything about us or have any questions, you can call us at (877) 455-1478 or email us.

CTECH Consulting Group, Inc. was referred by one of the property management’s existing clients. As part of CTECH’s three-step foundation, this experienced IT support team of professionals started the process of learning the commercial management company’s business needs - and there were several!

• The existing server was crashing daily.
• Users could not rely on remote access.
• The tech support person quit without leaving any documentation.

CTECH is well-known for setting themselves apart from its competition by offering a holistic solution that correctly employs the latest technology. They got right to work when they arrived at the company and did a thorough assessment of the network. After ordering and installing a new Dell PowerEdge 310 Server, CTECH rebuilt their entire system from scratch and moved all the data and applications to the new server.

As the client handles commercial properties and rentals of office space throughout Calgary and Edmonton, they needed reliability with their network. CTECH was able to provide that by:

• setting up automatic updates, 24-hour system monitoring, and providing the staff access to CTECH’s 24-hour help desk for all staff – support in 90 seconds or less.
• developing a corporate Intranet to share ideas. Remote users now have a reliable and more secure way of accessing data.
• ensuring system stability and increased staff efficiency.

CTECH was able to turn a bad situation into a winning solution! As the Calgary IT professionals, they can help business owners if they have issues with their computers or technology equipment. All they need to do is contact CTECH at their toll free number 1-877-455-1478 to get the best Calgary IT support there is today.

(Calgary, AB) – To lots of businesses, purchases of servers, computers, and other Information Technology (IT) equipment and applications are a major investment for them. Oftentimes, by the time they’ve made their purchases, they don’t have any funds left to think about purchasing a solution that will not only protect their equipment, but also their data. CTECH recognizes that and has a solution that they recommend to their clients.

Cyber thieves are getting bolder every day. They are becoming more polished at developing new and more destructive ways to hack into networks, websites, applications — and their data. Security is probably one of the most common areas that businesses tend to ignore and can be one of the most costly areas if those cyber thieves gain access to an organization’s systems.

According to Carl Fransen, President of CTECH Consulting Group, Inc., “Security needs to be of prime concern to each and every business owner. It can take a long time to build up your technology and information used on a daily basis but only a few minutes for someone intent on doing them harm to destroy everything they have worked so hard for. That’s why CTECH has locked in on Dell SecureWorks as a security solution for businesses.”

CTECH Security Services are designed to have the minimal overhead on your business with the maximum efficiency. Dell SecureWorks matches that description perfectly. Dell SecureWorks delivers real-time protection against existing and up-and-coming threats and vulnerabilities that may crop up. With iSensorTM, business owners can rest easy knowing that their business will receive protection round-the-clock from incoming and outgoing threats. This built-in security monitor is just one of several proprietary systems that provides the basis for SecureWorks.

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About the Company: Since 2000 when CTECH started out as a one-man operation, they have been providing quality, reliable IT support and services to its clients. Driven by the founder’s desire to make a difference in business, the company’s approach has always been to provide solutions to their clients today, while positioning those same clients for growth in the future.

If you would like to know anything about us or have any questions, you can call us at (877) 455-1478 or email us.

It has been a long time since we entered into a new year with so much uncertainty facing us. It is CTECH’s goal to continue to deliver the new technology to keep your business competitive and in the black during these times. Here are CTECH’s top three emerging technologies that we are closely following on our radar.

Cloud: Your business is now able to expand and contract dynamically, requires minimal infrastructure to run, only pay for what you need at that time, and can be deployed within hours, not days or weeks. This is quickly becoming a business reality. No more spending money on expensive servers, just business agility.

Security: With businesses feeling the pinch and trying to get ahead, cybercrime is going to be a serious issue this year. CTECH has invested heavily into providing our clients with today’s cutting edge protection.

Mobility: Tablets and smarter smartphones are now becoming an extension of the office. Having the ability to work anywhere at any time is here.

Let’s make 2012 OUR year!

Carl Fransen
Calgary IT Professional
CTECH Group.

CTECH was referred to the resort by an employee that previously worked at another company where CTECH’s professional IT support team did some work.  When we were contacted regarding the situation, we spoke with the stakeholders to gather a better understanding of their issues and propose a strategy for designing a network that would work for the resort.

During the initial assessment phase, CTECH was shocked at what they found.  All the software was illegal, and the version was over 10 years old.  Not only that, users were not able to change passwords, and email was hosted on an old-fashioned POP service.

The existing network system had no documentation or users’ manuals, and the outgoing IT firm was uncooperative, to say the least.  Even though the resort was operational 24 hours a day, CTECH managed to migrate all the PCs to the server, setup automatic updates and patching.  Our Calgary IT support professionals then installed the latest Microsoft Exchange server and allowed the users to share calendars, contacts and tasks — and sync to their cell phones.

CTECH works on a 3-tier foundation that incorporates the ways to Build IT, Support IT and Grow IT.  Under the Grow IT leg of the foundation, CTECH incorporated the same top IT security services that other Calgary businesses have come to rely on.  After the implementation of multiple layers of access, the luxury resort now has increased security to offer enhanced remote access to specific individuals. The system is now monitored 24 hours a day and fully documented. All software is legal and up to date.

If you find that you have technology issues, CTECH can do the very same for your business and even more.  Why not contact us to take that first step towards learning how we can partner with you in building your successful enterprise.

Their current system was joined to a retail grade network hard drive.  Retail or consumer grade hard drives are designed to fit the needs of a home or a very small business.  While that might be great to start with, if your business is growing, you could experience all sorts of issues that can be costly in time and money.

The insurance and claims company literally found itself with no backup, no security and no redundancy.  That’s when they came to CTECH to inquire as to the solutions that would satisfy their needs.  So, here’s what CTECH did for them:

• Consolidated all networking services in a new Dell T310 PowerEdge Server with a 7/24, 4-hour onsite support warranty
• Synced their calendars, email, contacts, etc to their phones in real time.
• Ensured that each staff member was able to share company contacts, multiple calendars and tasks throughout the firm
• Ensured that staff can work from anywhere in or outside of the office and be notified instantly of any emergency
• Included a plan that automatically updates and manages all PCs

So what about your company?  Are you looking for a trusted Calgary IT support team who will focus on ensuring your business has a foundation for success?  Take the first step by reaching out to contact us.

The firm is a locally-owned and operated real estate firm in the Calgary area. They offer a unique project-driven approach to real estate — from buying, selling and leasing of commercial real estate and related businesses, to property management, consulting and group investment. But, they had a HUGE technology issue.

Their normally stabilized business network was no longer reliable. Their Small Business Server (SBS) had crashed, they had no way to access the network and backups had not been done for about a month. Essentially, business as they know it had ground to a sudden halt. That’s when they started looking online for a reliable Calgary IT support company that could provide solutions for their issues.

CTECH is known for providing a complete range of services. Expediting hardware and software shipping and working over the weekend and into the week, all services are backed up and running for this commercial real estate brokerage. Our IT team improved all services offered to the users, set them up with unlimited email going in and out and increased security on their network. In addition, they replaced their old white box server with a business class DELL PowerEdge T410 server with a 7/24 4 hour onsite support warranty.

CTECH has saved this new-found client from potential disaster and now CTECH is training their internal IT department. What could be better than that?

Is your Calgary business in need of the best Calgary IT Support?  If so, contact the team at CTECH today.  We can help your commercial real estate business, Calgary oil and gas firm and Calgary hotel with amazing IT support.  Call us today.